Photos: 400 miles of the Mississippi

For three months this past summer, Quad-City Times photographers Kevin Schmidt and Andy Abeyta and reporter Jack Cullen explored a 400-mile region of the winding Mississippi River Valley that spans the entire eastern border of Iowa & northwest Illinois (including the Quad-Cities) and southwest Wisconsin. THE GREAT RIVER tells the story of their journey, through stunning photography and stories of the people and places on and around our mighty waterway.

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A tow from the Ingram Barge Co. moves barges down the Mississippi River past the beach at Finley's Landing Park located at the end of Finley's Landing Road near Sherrill, Iowa was created from sand dredged from the river over the years and has become a popular destination on the weekend for residents in the area.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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Sitting on one of the largest, scenic beaches on the Mississippi River Logan Kubovec of Cedar Rapids enjoys a lazy afternoon Tuesday June 13, 2017. Located at the end of Finley's Landing Road near Sherrill, Iowa in Finley's Landing Park the beach was created from sand dredged from the river over the years and has become a popular destination on the weekend for residents in the area.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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When the John Deere plant decommissioned its power station, the cooling water channel from the Mississippi River was restored to marshland and the surrounding area is now Deer Dike Park off Riverside Road adjacent to John Deere Dubuque Works.

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Shawn Frares looks down from the scenic overlook in Eagle Point Park as the motorized vessel Philip M Pfeffer approaches Lock and Dam #11 on the Mississippi River at Dubuque, Iowa June 13, 2017. Frares who was in the park for a dinner event at the pavilion said, "It's sure is a beautiful view from up here."

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The General Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam No. 11 is a lock and dam located between Dubuque, Iowa and rural Grant County, Wisconsin, on the Upper Mississippi River that opened to navigation September 14, 1937. The movable portion of the dam is 1,478 feet long and consists of 13 tainter gates and three roller gates. The non-movable part is a 3,340 feet long non-overflow earthen dam that connects to the Wisconsin shore. The main lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long. There is also an incomplete auxiliary lock.

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The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, the Diamond Jo Casino and Stone Cliff Winery are a few of the many attractions along the scenic Mississippi Riverwalk.

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Paul Demkier of Dubuque puts his rig together while fishing with his grandson just above the Dubuque Rail Bridge June 14, 2017. He said. "I remember coming across that bridge many times." Having learned something similar to Morse Code when he was 17, Demkier got a job with the Illinois Central Railroad as a telegrapher and depot manager.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Dubuque Star Brewery is a five-story brick brew house located in the Port of Dubuque. It is designed in Romanesque style. Iowa's oldest brewery was founded by the Rhomberg family in 1898. Forced to close with the beginning of Prohibition and it reopened in 1933 with its repeal. Bottled beer was first produced by the brewery in 1935. Cans were first used in 1975. Dozens of labels were created including "Iowa Lager," "Holiday," "Dubuque Star," and "Dubuque Star Select."

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Star Brewery Complex features an historical display on the building’s past on its ground floor. Stone Cliff Winery also operates on the ground floor with an expanded winery and tasting center. Upper floors are leased office space.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Star Brewery Complex features an historical display on the building’s past on its ground floor. Stone Cliff Winery also operates on the ground floor with an expanded winery and tasting center. Upper floors are leased office space.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Star Brewery Complex features an historical display on the building’s past on its ground floor. Stone Cliff Winery also operates on the ground floor with an expanded winery and tasting center. Upper floors are leased office space.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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Construction on the Julien Dubuque Bridge started in 1942 and finished in 1943. It was painted gray to help camouflage the bridge in case of an enemy attack. Because the bridge was financed with bonds, it initially operated as a toll bridge. Proceeds were used to help pay off the bonds. In the post-war years, traffic was so heavy the bonds were paid off 11 years early, and the bridge became toll-free in 1954. In the early 1990s, the bridge underwent an extensive renovation. The deck was replaced, and a new walkway was installed. For many years, the bridge was a dark green color; however in more recent times it again has been painted a light gray color.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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One of the paddle wheels from the dredge William M. Black which measures 25 feet in diameter and weighing 32 tons outside the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. The Center is home to museum exhibits on the culture and history of America's rivers. The campus also includes over a dozen aquariums featuring wildlife representative of that found in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico and other river systems and deltas, including giant catfish, sturgeon, ducks, frogs, turtles, rays, octopus, river otters, and more. There are also outdoor exhibits, featuring river otters, a marsh, and large artifacts, such as boats, a blacksmith shop, a stream, and raptor aviaries including bald eagle.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium is a museum located in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. The museum is a property of the Dubuque County Historical Society, with two centers on the riverfront campus: the Mississippi River Center and the National River Center.

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Looking out to the main channel of the Mississippi River from the Ice Harbor of Dubuque. When the former Diamond Jo Casino boat moved to a land based facility it opened up a water front location for the construction of a marina.

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The Shot Tower - Lead for ammunition during the Civil War was melted at the base of the tower, hoisted to the top, poured through screens of different gauges, tumbling smoothly round as it fell into the water vats below. The shot was then sorted and packed. When completed, the tower could produce between 6 to 8 tons daily, but it was rarely operated at full capacity due to being bought by competitor Chadburne and Forster in 1862. From 1872 - 1881 a statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback stood on top of the tower. In 1877, a permanent interior spiral staircase was constructed. In 1881, a framed glass observatory was added to the top to convert it into a fire watchtower for Standard Lumber Company, which occupied seven blocks around the structure. After a fire in 1911 the building was. It stood roofless until a concrete cap with a hatchway was added in 1960 and replacement brick was used to reconstruct the lost upper portion of the top floor.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The dredge William M. Black, now permanently moored in the Ice Harbor in Dubuque is one of the last steamboats built with the advance technology of the 1930s, the last era before diesel power replaced steam. A side-wheeler steamboat, the Black is similar in form and style to the great steam boats of the 19th century. The vessel, which is 277 feet long and 85 feet wide, was built in 1934 by the Marietta Manufacturing Company in Point Pleasant, West Virginia for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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There are several living quarters for the crew aboard the dredge William M. Black along with storerooms, a drying room, a food preparation area and separate crew and officer’s mess, and fourteen staterooms including captain’s and engineer’s quarters.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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A model of a steamboat that lights up in various sections of the craft as a audio tract plays telling about the structure of the vessel and what life was like aboard the ship for passengers at the Mississippi River Center in Dubuque.

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Catfish Creek is a 21.2-mile-long tributary of the upper Mississippi River in northeastern Iowa. It rises southwest of Dubuque to just southeast of Peosta. The Middle Fork rises west of Dubuque and flows under and then parallel to U.S. Route 20.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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Passing under the Dubuque Rail Bridge on the Illinois side of the river June 29, 2017. The bridge was rebuilt in the 1890s has 5 spans and a swing-span. Because of a 150-foot bluff adjacent to the Mississippi riverbank on the Illinois side, the tracks enter a 1/4-mile tunnel that curves 90-degrees to the south allowing trains to proceed along the tracks next to the river south of the bridge.

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Finished in 1943 the Julien Dubuque Bridge spans the Mississippi River between Dubuque, Iowa and East Dubuque, Illinois. Because the bridge was financed with bonds, it initially operated as a toll bridge. Proceeds were used to help pay off the bonds. In the post-war years, traffic was so heavy the bonds were paid off 11 years early, and the bridge became toll-free in 1954. In the early 1990s, the bridge underwent an extensive renovation. The deck was replaced, and a new walkway was installed. For many years, the bridge was a dark green color; recently it has been repainted to its original light gray color.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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In the late 1700s, the Meskwakies Indian Tribe located a village near the mouth of Catfish Creek and mined LEAD in the area. In 1788 they allowed Julien Dubuque to live along the stream and operate the mines. Near the mouth of the stream, his settlement included a smelter and blacksmith shop.

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Catfish Creek is a 21.2-mile-long tributary of the upper Mississippi River in northeastern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has labeled Upper Catfish Creek a cold-water Class "B"(CW) stream from the Swiss Valley Park Campgrounds and south approximately 3 miles. The stream has naturally reproducing has brown trout within it--one of only thirty such streams in Iowa.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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Catfish Creek is a 21.2-mile-long tributary of the upper Mississippi River in northeastern Iowa. It rises southwest of Dubuque to just southeast of Peosta. The Middle Fork rises west of Dubuque and flows under and then parallel to U.S. Route 20. In the late 1700s, the Meskwakies Indian Tribe located a village near the mouth of Catfish Creek and mined LEAD in the area. In 1788 they allowed Julien Dubuque to live along the stream and operate the mines. Near the mouth of the stream, his settlement included a smelter and blacksmith shop.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Horseshoe Bluff nature trail is a ¾ mile trail featuring a scenic overlook at the north end. From here you can see the Julien Dubuque monument to the north and view the old quarry to the south with the Mississippi River in the background.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Mines of Spain Recreation Area and E.B.Lyons Interpretive and Nature Center are located on 1380 acres of wooded and prairie land just south of Dubuque, IA. The area has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and includes Julien Dubuque’s Monument at a point just above where Catfish Creek meets the Mississippi River.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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A couple walks along the trail through the Horseshoe Bluff site of the Mines of Spain Recreation Area. There are 21 miles of maintained hiking trails within the park including five individual nature walks and those at the E.B. Lyons Interpretive Center.

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Julien Dubuque married Potosa, daughter of Peosta, the chief of the Mesquakie Indians. Dubuque died in March of 1810 and when he died the Mesquakie buried him with tribal honors beneath a log mausoleum at the site of the current monument. The Julien Dubuque monument was built in 1897 and sits high above the Mississippi River.

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Julien Dubuque died in March of 1810 and when he died the Mesquakie buried him with tribal honors beneath a log mausoleum at the site of the current monument. The Julien Dubuque monument was built in 1897 and sits high above the Mississippi River.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Julien Dubuque monument is constructed of rock-faced limestone ashlar, a Galena limestone mined from a nearby quarry. This cylindrical tower is 12 feet wide and 25 feet high with walls approximately 18 inches in width.

Kevin E. Schmidt

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The Dubuque area is important historically in the Indian-French fur trading culture and the first record of lead mining by a French trader, Nicholas Perrot, in 1690. In 1788 Julien Dubuque was granted rights by the Mesquakie Indians to mine their land for lead. Dubuque settled close to the village of Kettle Chief just south of where the Julien Dubuque Monument now stands. It was here that Dubuque founded the first Euro-American settlement in what is now Iowa.

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The mezzanine of the Schmid Innovation Center displays a mobile of old windows representative of the warehouseÕs history as a door and window manufacturing plant in the Millwork District of Dubuque, Iowa, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.

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The William M. Black steamboat, built in 1934, is seen available for tours as a part of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in the Port of Dubuque Marina with Hotel Julien in the background in Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday, June 29, 2017.

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Owners T.J. Freytag Jr. and Julie Hoftender pose for a photo behind the bar at T.J.'s Bent Prop Marina Inc. in East Dubuque, Illinois, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The location offers boat slips, rentals, a full grill menu and full bar.

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